Winter Springs to buy leased Veolia equipment – without competitive bids

The City of Winter Springs approved a $354,150 contract with Veolia Water Technologies Inc. to buy leased equipment at its wastewater treatment site, bypassing the competitive bidding process. 

Ultimately, city officials say the move to buy the rented equipment will save money. 

“Over three years, we would save $238,000, and over four years, we would save $435,000 to buy it,” Winter Springs Finance Director Holly Queen told commissioners Monday. “That’s just the lease payments. That’s not including the [demolition] costs that would have to be added into that.”

The issue started back in 2021. Scott Richards with Carollo Engineers, the outside consultants who are designing the city’s new wastewater facilities, said at the time that the city decided to lease the equipment because it could be retrofitted onto the plant and it was available quickly. 

“To take it out and replace it with something else, we would literally be [demolishing] slabs, you have pipes already cored through the wall that fit the specific profile of this filter,” Richards said. “It’s not like a little filter under your sink. This is a large (filter), the size of a school bus, that gets dropped into here.”

Richards said this is the final filter to remove any fine particulates before the water is treated and sent out as reclaimed water. Mayor Kevin McCann said before the filter was purchased, some residents using reclaimed water had sprinkler heads clog because of “solids” in the reclaimed water.

Back in 2021, the city got two bids for the disk filters: One bid from Veolia, and another WesTech. The city voted to rent the filters from Veolia Water Technologies at a cost of $49,750 up front and $16,450 per month afterwards. Now the city is opting to buy the filters outright over the next six months in three payments totalling $255,450, and will pay Veolia an additional $19,985 for service visits. Veiolia will continue getting a $16,450 per month rental fee until the filter is paid off.

Eventually the city is planning to build two new wastewater treatment sites, part of a larger plan to double the rates customers pay over five years to fund $166 million in water infrastructure. 

The move comes as the city is under increasing scrutiny for its water issues. The city owns two wastewater treatment facilities. The city outsourced operations of those facilities to Veolia North America in 2019.

More recently, the city decided to pay for a bypass pump at a wastewater lift station after untreated wastewater backed up into a homeowner’s backyard. 

According to an audit from the Florida Auditor General, the city and its contractor have paid $318,372 in costs and penalties since 2021 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The city has been on the hook for $68,100 and the contractor has incurred $250,272 in costs. Those costs can include fines and penalties, or improvements to infrastructure meant to prevent future issues. 

Ultimately, the City Commission voted unanimously to buy the disk filter outright. 

“Yes, it looks like a big number, especially when you’re going into the construction of the wastewater plants, yes,” said Winter Springs Utilities Director Bilal Iftikhar.  “But there is just no way out of it. We have to have that filter. Either we keep this or replace our sand filters, which is going to cost us even more.”

One possible downside: If Winter Springs owns the filter, it would be responsible if it were to fail. Iftikhar said Veolia is offering a one-year warranty on it. 

“Any idea what the lifespan of this filter will be?” Commissioner Rob Elliott asked. 

“From what I’ve heard, it can last anywhere from a good 10 to 15 years if you keep up with the maintenance of it,” Iftikhar said. 

“So it will last through the construction of the new plants?” Elliott asked. 

“Yes,” Iftikhar said. 

In other news, Winter Springs:

• Sent two 2021 Chevy Volt electric vehicles to auction. The city’s new finance director said one of the vehicles had to have a battery replaced at a cost of $28,000 (the costs were covered by the warranty). “I’ve had another city interested in purchasing those EVs,” Queen said. “Unfortunately we had to replace a battery recently. They’re about $28,000. I don’t want to have to do that again.” Queen said once the city doesn’t have the electric vehicles, it might look into selling its charging station as well. “We’re not going to lose any money on them,” Queen added. “We’re selling them for more than the depreciated value on them.”
• Received an update that Hickory Grove townhomes in the Winter Springs Town Center has completed all of its public infrastructure and turned it over to the city. 
• Spent about $78,000 to replace a collapsed 30-inch storm sewer pipe at 1207 Deer Run Road.